The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Gaultheria, commonly known as Wintergreen, which is grown as an ornamental plant for use in containers and in the landscape. The new cultivar is known botanically as Gaultheria procumbens and will be hereinafter referred to by the denomination ‘Hokutotakaji-001’.
During December 2009 to January 2010, the inventor observed within his crop of red-berried Gaultheria procumbens (species, unpatented) a naturally occurring whole-plant mutation which bore white-colored berries in the summer and which persist and develop light pink coloration in the winter months. The whole plant mutation was discovered by the inventor in the inventor's greenhouse in Nanae-town, Hokkaido, Japan. The mutation was observed as a single plant which was found growing in a commercial crop of unnamed red-berried Gaultheria procumbens. The species Gaultheria procumbens is widely cultivated as such (the species) and not as a named cultivar. The inventor also observed that the whole plant mutation exhibited additional desirable characteristics including large berries, weeping plant habit and smaller leaves which allow the berries to be more visible.
The inventor first propagated ‘Hokutotakaji-001’ in his greenhouse in Nanae-town, Hokkaido, Japan in June 2011 using the method of stem cuttings. The inventor has confirmed that ‘Hokutotakaji-001’ is stable and reproduces true to type in each successive generation of asexual reproduction.